Tuesday, January 6, 2015

A Fistful of Cinematic Resolutions 2015! (Matt's Picks)

It’s that time of year again. Time for me to look at my viewing history and find some of the glaring blank spots. French New Wave? 60s comedies? Nautical Kurt Russell? I’ve got some movies I need to watch in 2015.

5. The Sound of Music & All that Jazz: I’ve watched a good number of musicals. It’s never been a type of film I necessarily love, but it’s also never been one I avoid. The King and I, The Music Man, and West Side Story were favorites from my youth. But somehow, no matter how many times it aired on TV, I never watched The Sound of Music. Oh, sure, I’ve seen the clips. I know some of the story. But I’ve never seen the film. I figured I’d pair that with All that Jazz, a movie that reinvented the musical for a new era.

4. Breathless & Jules and Jim: French film. I love some. I hate some. I’m indifferent to most. The French New Wave, while obviously influential, never much captured my interest. And the few times I’ve tried to make inroads, I’ve found myself a mix of confused and bored. Alphaville, anyone? But this time, I’m gonna try a couple of the classics of the movement, by two of its most iconic directors.

3. La Jetee & Sans Soleil: I loved 12 Monkeys, and I dig science fiction. So, I’m finally going to sit down and watch La Jetee, the short film that inspired Terry Gilliam’s time travel weirdness. And while I’m at it, I’ll check out Sans Soleil, mostly because they’re packaged together by Criterion.

2. Pillow Talk & The Odd Couple: A big blank spot for me (which I’m really trying to fill in) is the 1960s comedy. Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, Jack Lemmon, and the rest…just never watched ‘em. Over the last couple years, I’ve tried more and more. But this year I thought I’d go after a couple big ones.

1. Overboard & Captain Ron: Kurt Russell and John Carpenter make magic together (ignoring Escape from L.A.). But I realized that outside of Carpenter films, my Russell knowledge is spotty. I’ve never watched any of his films from when Disney owned him. And I haven’t seen much from the late 80s or the 90s. People keep talking about how great Captain Ron is. Well, let’s see.